modern European history
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In this lecture, Professor Paul Fry examines trends in African-American criticism through the lens of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Toni Morrison. A brief history of African-American literature and criticism is undertaken, and the relationship of both to feminist theory is explicated. The problems in cultural and identity studies of essentialism, "the identity queue," expropriation, and biology are surveyed, with particular attention paid to ...more
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The bubonic plague is the measure by which succeeding epidemics have long been measured. Its extreme virulence, horrible symptoms, and indiscriminate victim profile all contributed to making plague the archetypical worst-case scenario. For these same reasons, the plague is also an ideal test case for the thesis that epidemic diseases play a major role in shaping human history. Over the course of its three pandemics, the plague had major ec...more
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Under Ken Wilcox's tutelage as CEO, Silicon Valley Bank has cashed in on a winning hand. He added a broker dealer of money market accounts to their existing commercial banking services with huge success. The bank now focuses exclusively on technology clients (save for a few holdovers from the premium wine vertical), and they've expanded their product suite to cater to this unique market appropriately. The institution altered its efforts to...more
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This lecture will explore the 'celebrification' of contemporary popular culture. In particular how the idea of celebrity is intrinsic to the making and marketing of popular newspapers. We will also examine how the so-called quality press has not remained immune from the lure of the celebrity. And more importantly how broadcasting appears to be reconfiguring our ideas about celebrity. We will analyse in detail particular examples drawn ...more
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In this introductory lecture, Professor Sylvia Ceyer introduces those throughout history who have contributed to the atomic theory of matter, beginning with Aristotle and Democritus, and ending with the work of Lavoisier, Proust, and Dalton. After disussing scanning tunnelling microscopy, Professor Ceyer moves to the major advances in chemistry at the end of the 19th century. These include Newtonian mechanics, thermodynamices, statistical...more
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Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner (AMST 246)Professor Wai Chee Dimock continues her discussion of For Whom the Bell Tolls by analyzing the contrast Robert Jordan draws between "distant homes" and the on-site environment of the Spanish Civil War. She juxtaposes his invocations of Paris and Missouri to the rooted communities of the guerillas, and reads analogies of racial and ethnic conflict -- specifically, the references to the Moors in Spai...more
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In this second introductory lecture, Professor Paul Fry explores the interrelation of skepticism and determinism. The nature of discourse and the related issue of discursivity is read through two modern works, Anton Chekov's Cherry Orchard and Henry James' The Ambassadors. Exemplary critical focus on literary authority is located in Michel Foucault's "What Is an Author" and Roland Barthes' "The Death of the Author," both of which are read ...more
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The transparent tissues of the eye allow light to reach the retina. This highly metabolic tissue requires oxygen delivered by the blood vessels, which are damaged by disease. Diabetic retinopathy is the commonest cause of blindness in the working-age population and in later life hypertension adds to this toll. The eyes maybe the mirror of the soul, but they certainly are a window into our general health. This lecture traces the story f...more
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Families lived together in traditional China and sons remained on the land; division of family land led to tiny plots and rural poverty. Because labor was so cheap, the country did not urbanize or mechanize. The Communist government started out with a pro-natal stance, but after experiencing the famine of the Great Leap Forward, moved strongly to fertility control. Fertility declined rapidly in the 1970s, but to counter momentum, the One-C...more
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Rick Wallace shares the history of KLA-Tencor to show that it is important to follow one's business model. KLA revolutionized the industry by starting to charge for service instead of just offering it up for free. In order to enforce this, the founder had to risk losing IBM as a client. However, his bet paid off, and IBM finally agreed to pay for service. This has led to a large and profitable annuity stream for KLA-Tencor....more
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In this first lecture on the theory of literature in social contexts, Professor Paul Fry examines the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Hans Robert Jauss. The relation of their writing to formalist theory and the work of Barthes and Foucault is articulated. The dimensions of Bakhtin's heteroglossia, along with the idea of common language, are explored in detail through a close reading of the first sentence of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. J...more
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The concept of sovereignty is discussed in Hobbesian terms. For Hobbes, "the sovereign" is an office rather than a person, and can be characterized by what we have come to associate with executive power and executive authority. Hobbes' theories of laws are also addressed and the distinction he makes between "just laws" and "good laws." The lecture ends with a discussion of Hobbes' ideas in the context of the modern state.
